Happy Pill Disclosures

Happy pills

Where? Where can I get one?!

Great question. I’m describing a generic, ordinary, everyday Happy Pill. It’s not sold in a regular pharmacy. Nope. Not at all. However, its availability can also be characterized as everywhere else you look.

Beginning to feel as if you’re a contestant on Jeopardy? (All these clues.) Complicating this question even more, have you ever played Charades? What an excuse to have fun and make happy fools of ourselves, right? Following the Charades recipe, we’re acting out the term, Happy Pill. Shall we move forward with this experiment?

Best done outside where others can see you. Trust me on this.

Raise your right or left hand (doesn’t matter which) and begin moving your hand back and forth like a windshield wiper (fast or slow, whatever works.) While you’re practicing the wave, notice what your lips and mouth are doing (you might be surprised.) Perhaps your breathing is becoming deeper. By George (or whomever), you’ve got it! Oh, if it isn’t clear by now, you’re waving at other people as they pass by. On the path to a Happy Pill. (And of course, you can stop waving whenever you wish. Talk about self-empowerment.)

This Happy Pill is not prescribed by an MD, found in a liquor store, or even available through dark chocolate purveyors. It arises from your brain’s own chemistry set. Wait, please don’t go thinking I’m leading you down a primrose path to brain-altering drugs! No peyote, LSD, or ecstasy for me. (My mother would be rolling over in her grave unless I stuck in this disclaimer.) Nope, my brain-altering drug of choice is oxytocin. It’s a naturally occurring brain hormone in our bodies, provocatively called the “love molecule,” which we can often create on our own. Hey, stick with me. Not boring, I promise.

Returning to our “waving at people schtick” which is often the precursor of positive social connections. Waving (of all things) stimulates oxytocin production in your body. You become happy, feeling a simple, pleasant, social connection to others. Not world-shaking, but doesn’t it feel great to just feel good? Pretty easy, eh?

Test-drive time.

Other actions producing oxytocin highs? (I’d want to know, wouldn’t you?) Here you go: smiling, spending time with friends, feel-good movies or TV shows, and that beat just rumbles on. The sky’s the limit. Our inner pharmacies are only too happy to run with oxytocin production, given a stimulus, and the outcome is our felt happiness. Such a deal.

Oops, just one more not-so small item. No insurance is required to indulge in Happy Pills. None. Zip.

In a former life, I was a social worker. (You hadn’t guessed by now?) Every profession has its own lingo. One of my favorite social work-y terms was agency, supporting folks in empowering themselves. A great example is the realization that each of us can, consciously, produce our own love molecules, feeling good as a result. Is that not empowering, or what?

But, no, here we are talking, talking, and talking some more, when instead, we could be boosting our love molecule production by: playing with a dog or cat, staring out the window at nature, feeling gratitude, and on it goes. Simple, everyday stuff, like taking a sip of your favorite forbidden beverage (mine is Diet Dr. Pepper) and smiling with satisfaction afterwards. We can swim in the fruits of our own self-empowerment. (Anyone need water wings?) Waving, or whatever tools you choose for creating your own love molecules, may now proceed. Ready, set, go!

Hey, folks, if you’re enjoying This Being Human Thing, please consider sharing with others.